Chess Pieces
by starlight.moon.princess
Summary: The board is set, and the gods are the audience. It's just a matter of making sure that the next move is the right one. :: A drabble collection, set during Titan's Curse
1. Zeus

**A/N: This is set during Titan's Curse - it's a drabble collection focussing on the 12 Olympians, Hades and Hestia through the events of the book. It's a lot of supposition on the reasons behind the gods' actions, so it may not be concretely canon - but then, that's what fanfic is for :)**

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The board is set.

Zeus has been King for longer than he cares to remember. He has seen empires rise and fall, and watched his children slowly die. The plans of the Fates do not faze him anymore.

But this game is different. This is a game in which the winner rules the world, and the losers are banished to Tartarus. So as much as he would like to blow him out of the sky, he won't.

But neither will he forget the fact that the boy had the audacity to fly through _**his territory**_, regardless of the fact that his son is accompanying him.

And then he somehow gets his statues to fly him, and as far as he's concerned, his dear nephew needs to keep him in his memory.

He'll let this game play out – he has no choice – but after it's done (and he has to believe that he'll keep the world at the end of it), he's going to make sure that Perseus Jackson knows the favour he has done him.

But that's all for later. Right now, there's a game that's being played that requires all of his attention.

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	2. Apollo

Apollo likes the kid. Really, he does.

After all, there's just about no other god who appreciates cars the way he does – well, Hermes does, but he hasn't exactly been cheerful company lately. (And he can appreciate why – he'd be the same way – but that doesn't change the fact.)

The kid? The kid understands. And appreciates the beauty inherent in a good car.

So yeah, he likes him. But really, that doesn't change anything. After all, it was his Oracle who started all of this – what kind of god of prophecy would he be if he tried to work around it?

He does what he can – gives him transport to where he needs to be. But he also makes sure to reinforce his idea that the gods care nothing for half-bloods who aren't their children. (And really, that couldn't be farther from truth, but that isn't what he needs to hear to motivate him to continue.)

He likes the kid, but he has no choice. This game is so much bigger than either of them.

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	3. Artemis

There is a manticore heading right for her.

She is the goddess of wild animals. A manticore isn't exactly hard work for her – but then, that's probably why Kronos has arranged for Atlas to accompany it.

She's still stronger. Atlas has had millennia holding the weight of the sky, while she's been free – it does tend to reduce an immortal's strength.

But she has a game plan to stick to. That _creature_ has a free maiden with him, and while that would be enough to convince the possible children of the prophecy to look for her, her Hunters will never accompany them without her. And if they plan on beating Atlas, they need to do that.

She hopes that she doesn't lose any Hunters during this.

(She knows it's a fool's hope. There will be deaths during this one, but forces far stronger than a goddess have set the pieces on the game board. She has no choice.)

She closes her eyes, and prepares herself. She needs to convincing if she wants the bastard in front of her to believe that he's actually defeated her.

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	4. Ares

Ares would dearly like to kill the boy. That a _half-blood_ could dare to beat him in his own domain…

There is nothing the god of war would like better than to see Perseus Jackson drown in his own blood. But what he had told him so long ago held true – there was no better fight than one fought between family. And as much as he hated to remember it, the gods of Olympus were still related to the Titans.

Besides, not even the pleasure of killing Jackson would be worth dealing with the combined wrath of Aphrodite and Poseidon. Added to that the fact that if he died, there was a good chance that one of the greatest wars ever would be postponed, and Ares did the only thing he could – he held off.

He had no doubt that he would have a chance to _**play**_ with Jackson soon. But as for now – well, he just needed to wait until Jackson made the right move and-

BOOM!

He couldn't _wait_ for the war.

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	5. Aphrodite

He's cute; she'll give him that. Heroes usually don't even have that much going for them – it's always the villains who get the good looks.

The rest of her family are a bit preoccupied with the looming threat of war. She doesn't like war, not unless it's started in the name of love, like this one definitely will not be – so she needs to find something else to concentrate on.

Ares would like to kill him. She suspects a number of her fellow gods and goddesses would, as well. As for her – well, she hasn't had the possibility of a truly tragic heroic love triangle since the _**Trojan War**_, and now that she has another, she's not going to let him just _**die**_ and spoil all her fun.

The poor boy thinks her promise of a complicated love life just means that girl he's looking for. He has no idea…

She searches for a flame-haired girl, and young boy worried about his sister, and ignites that flame of love. She may not be able to actually _create_ the emotion, but her powers lie in bringing them to a person's conscious knowledge.

The boy's board has been set for a long time, but nothing in it says she cannot make just the slightest bit more complicated.

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	6. Hera

As far as she's concerned, the boy shouldn't even be alive. The fact that Poseidon broke the bonds of his marriage to have him is galling enough, added to that the little vow he and his brothers swore sixty years ago…

No, as far as the Queen of Heaven is concerned, the boy's mere existence was an insult, to both her and Amphitrite.

But Zeus had forbidden her from killing him, so all she could do was stew in silence while he cavorted with a host of half-bloods (none of whom should be alive, either – there was a _reason_ mortals and immortals were separate) _including_ her **dear** step-daughter.

That little bit didn't exactly help her feelings towards him either.

The only saving grace that boy had was that he was loyal to his friends and those he considered his family, unworthy though they might be. The boy had to **live**, Zeus had said, so she did the only thing she could.

The others could try and interfere all they wanted. She would observe, and leave her decisions for later.

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	7. Dionysus

Half-bloods are annoying. _Really_ annoying. Dionysus would like nothing better than to strangle each and every one of them, apart from Castor and Pollux, of course.

But _**nooooo**_! Father doesn't see it that way at **ALL**! No, instead, he had to decide that the best way to punish him was to make him make sure that those little brats were _**safe and happy**_!

(And it might have been the perfect punishment, but really, why him?)

And then Poseidon's little horror decided to walk into his camp, and everything just about went to Hades. And that was without taking into account the fact that Jackson decided, for some damn reason, that walking out of the camp _without_ a pass was a good idea!

So really, he would have loved to kill him.

But nope. The boy was important, Father said, so all Dionysus could do was give him a little warning and a threat, and then let him go.

And, of course, wait for the boy to need his help. It was **obvious** that he would need it – he didn't need the Fates to read the signs for him.

That boy had better win the game he was playing – Dionysus couldn't care less about Jackson's life, but his existence also happened to rest on the game. If he didn't…

Well, maybe Father would let him kill that one _then_.

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**I hope you g****uys liked it! **As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)


	8. Demeter

Demeter has a lot of concerns. They include her plants, regulating the growth of the crops on earth, making sure that her elder brother doesn't forget that he kidnapped her daughter, said daughter herself and all her half-blood children.

She has a lot of concerns, and Perseus Jackson isn't one of them.

The rest of her family is panicked, wondering how the game that the boy is a part of is going to end. She lets them.

She has not truly interfered with the mortal world since Kore was lost to her. And if Zeus falls, she is more than happy to take up annoying Hades for all time.

Demeter has a lot of worries. The game is not one of them.

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**A/N: In Greek Myth, Kore ("maiden") was Persephone's name before her marriage to Hades. It only after marriage that she stopped being Kore and became Persephone.  
I hope you guys liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)**


	9. Hephaestus

The boy was still undefined.

Hephaestus knew how to create automatons so real that they would be indistinguishable from humans. He knew how to define them so that each of them had their own separate, unique personality. So if there was one thing he knew about Poseidon's son was the fact that the boy was, as of yet, undefined.

He spent too much time worrying about how others would perceive his actions to be a truly effective player on the board. Hopefully, that part of him would soon change – if he didn't find a way to define himself soon, there was no chance of him winning the game, not against Kronos.

But what he did have was potential. He had the potential to be better than anyone, so Hephaestus contented himself with sitting back and watching. The boy would make his decision, one way or the other, soon.

And in the meantime, he made sure Aphrodite knew to warn the boy off of wandering through his trash. It would better for them if they just avoided the place, but since it wasn't possible, they needed to know not to pick up anything.

Perseus Jackson was as of yet undefined, so the god of the forges sat back and waited. The fires of the game would soon start to consume him, and that was when the boy would decide just _how_ he would be defined – as iron, or as its impurities.

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	10. Hermes

It is his son down there.

Everyone else is concerned over the decisions of the son of Poseidon, and as much as Hermes likes the boy, he couldn't actually care less about him. When compared to Luke, his precious Luke, Percy Jackson means nothing to him.

But Luke is a pawn in the same game Percy is an unknowing participant in, and there's nothing he can do. Not even advanced knowledge of the future that was chalked out for him could help Hermes save him – there is nothing that he can do but watch, and pray to Zeus that Percy can get through to his son where he himself has failed.

The boy may not have succeeded during their last meeting, but Hermes lives in home. For all that the rest of the gods have branded Luke a traitor, he is still is his son, and the last thing he wants is to see him dead.

He has no choice – he cannot interfere in the game, and truth be told, Luke would not appreciate it if he did. If anything, he would probably only make it worse.

So he does the only thing he can. He waits and watches, and helps Percy where he can. But more than anything, he prays that Luke lives.

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	11. Athena

Her daughter is gone.

She has always loved Annabeth just a little more than the rest of her children. It's unfair, she knows that, but when that little blonde girl was born, she captured her heart in way that only few of her children had ever done.

And now that beautiful little girl was gone, forced by Atlas to hold up the sky.

She has never hated the game her father and grandfather insist on playing more than at that moment. She knows her first loyalties are to Olympus – but all the same, it is she, not one of the other gods, who has to watch her child suffer, all the while knowing that she cannot do anything.

Athena will be the first one to admit she has problems with Poseidon. She does not much like his son either – and the fact that the spawn of the sea is so close to her daughter is galling.

But all the same, she has to respect him. He is the only one, save maybe for Thalia Grace and the satyr, who truly cares for her child. He has taken the biggest risk possible by leaving Camp Half-Blood without permission, and he has done it all to save Annabeth. She can only do the same.

Her father will be greatly angered when he finds out about this, she knows that, but Annabeth is her child. She doesn't care whether it's against Zeus and Hera's orders not to interfere with half-blood quests. She is willing to do whatever it takes to save her child, even help a son of the sea god.

She only allows herself to smile once the half-bloods have left Hoover Dam. Games and manipulations are all well and good, but she will stand to see her children used in them.

This will be her reminder to her father of that fact.

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	12. Poseidon

Poseidon is one of the few gods who has never had more than a few children – three or four – in a decade. Unlike many of the gods, he makes sure to claim each and every one of his children. He keeps an eye on them, looks out for them as much as he can without attracting the attention of Zeus and Hera.

After the Oath had been made, he had every intention not to have half-blood children again – but Sally Jackson has always had a way of getting under her skin. He had not been able to keep as great an eye of Percy as he would have liked, not without drawing his family's attention, but he has always done as much as he can.

But this – this is the one time he is useless to his son. The child is the centerpiece of a game that had begun millennia before his birth, and he can only watch in mostly helplessness as Percy faces creatures that he should never have to encounter in the span of his life. And his is only fourteen.

He does what he can to help – sends sea creatures and directs Percy's Cyclops half-siblings to him – but there is a limit to what aid he can offer. So as Percy holds up the weight of the sky, something no mortal was ever meant to suffer, he sits and watches, completely useless for all of his powers.

He knows the consequences could be dire if he interferes – but Percy is son, and _not_ being able to interfere hurts more than anything else. Which is why he allows the satyr and the Ophiotaurus to travel through the rivers and seas when Zeus would rather see the latter dead – Percy asked it of him, and he will not refuse.

And when Percy asks his final wish, that the Ophiotaurus be left alive, he knows that will do everything in his power to make certain it comes into being.

Percy may be a pawn in a game that Poseidon cannot remove him from, but none of that means that he will have to face everything that is coming alone. He is the son of the sea, and the sea protects its own.

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**I've always thought that Poseidon was the most concerned and involved of the godly parents, and that is what I wanted to show here. I hope you guys liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)**


	13. Hades

Hades watches.

Of all the gods, he is the safest from this game. His brothers thought that banishing him to the Underworld was a punishment, and maybe for the last three millennia, it was. But now that the gods' hold on the earth is tenuous at best – now, the Underworld is both source of the danger and the safest from it all at the same time.

So the chaos going on aboveground does not draw his attention at all. The only reason he pays any attention is because of Bianca and Nico.

As all of it comes to a head, he freed his children from the clutches of the Lotus Casino. Whatever happens to them is on his head, he knows this.

And yet, the chance to control the game is too good to pass up. All he needs is for the child of Poseidon to die – anyone who has eyes can see that Zeus' daughter will do anything she can to get away from the threat hanging over her head. If she is anything like Zeus, she will succeed.

So he watches, and he waits. He will make sure that his brother's son will die if it comes to that. The game is his chance to return to his rightful place in Olympus, and he will be damned to Tartarus before he loses it.

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	14. Hestia

Hestia watches her family start to prepare for a war.

She is not a warrior like her nephew and niece. She is not meant for war, but for peace and home. If Typhon comes, if her _father_ comes, she will be useless.

The goddess of the hearth has no illusions about her youngest brother. There are too many occasions that he is power drunk. And while her other brother are better than Zeus, they each have their own faults.

But at the end of all things, they are still infinitely better rulers than her father and his siblings.

She is useless in a true fight, but she still has her own powers. Of all the gods, it is perhaps she who pays the most attention to the half-bloods, looking over their camp even though none who learn there are hers.

And the more she learns, the more patient she is. Her time will come soon; she can feel it. In the end, she too will play an important role in the game that is being played.

But it is not her time yet, so she does what she done for millennia.

She waits.

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**And here ends this story :)  
Thank you to everyone who's read/reviewed/faved/faollowed. And, as always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out - I'd really love to hear what you guys thought about the fic :)**


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